WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — During its recent six-day break between Big Ten Conference games, the Maryland men's basketball team worked on two issues that have troubled the Terps for much of the season: turnovers and rebounding.

In an 83-79 loss to No. 20 Purdue at Mackey Arena on Saturday, No. 10 Maryland showed that its ballhanding had improved, committing just six turnovers, or 12 fewer than in the Feb. 21 win over Michigan.

A lack of rebounding, particularly on the defensive boards, remained a problem. It might have been the reason the Terps fell behind by as many as 16 points early in the first half and, after nearly catching up, by 10 with a little more than four minutes left.

The overall margin — 41-22 in favor of the Boilermakers, the biggest and broadest team in the league — nearly doubled Maryland's largest rebounding deficit of the season. It was also the Terps' fewest rebounds this season.

Asked how the team can get back to the way it played earlier in the season, freshman center Diamond Stone said: “We just need to emphasize in practice just rebounding. We usually take pride in rebounding, especially me and Rob [Carter Jr.], and it carries on throughout the guards and everyone else. Rebounding is our big key. If we rebound, we have a great chance to win the game.”

Stone and Carter had five rebounds each to lead the Terps. At one point in the first half, Maryland was getting outrebounded 20-7 and sophomore point guard Melo Trimble led the Terps with two rebounds, while the team's four big men had combined for three.

In contrast, three Purdue players — senior center A.J. Hammons, sophomore forward Vince Edwards and senior guard Raphael Davis — each had seven rebounds, while freshman forward Caleb Swanigan had six and sophomore guard Johnny Hill had five.

Maryland coach Mark Turgeon, who periodically has made his team run in practice each time a player failed to box out, said after the game that the players will have “to fix it.”

Sophomore wing Jared Nickens, who had one rebound in 23 minutes, agreed.

“That's on us. We've just got to want to do it,” said Nickens, who added 10 points off the bench. “It will be corrected moving forward.”

Senior forward Jake Layman, who also had one rebound in 30 minutes, said the lack of attentiveness and aggressiveness on the defensive boards is apparent at times. At one point, no one boxed out Davis at the foul line. When he missed, he got his rebound and scored.

“There were box-outs here and there. There were a lot of tip-outs, which led to points,” Layman said.

don.markus@baltsun.com

twitter.com/sportsprof56